The present invention relates to a headrest having a support; at least one upper and lower linkage that are each hinged to the support as a result of the upper and lower linkages respectively being pivotable around horizontal axles; an impact element hinged to the linkages so that the impact element together with the linkages and the support form at least one four-bar linkage; an energy storage device that, in the event of a crash, drives the four-bar linkage so that the impact element moves forwardly out from an initial position to a crash position, and a crash lock for restricting rearward movement of the impact element while the impact element is in the crash position.
A headrest of the type described immediately above is known from DE 199 51 966 A1, in which the impact element comes out in the event of a crash by means of a four-bar linkage in the form of a parallelogram, and the drive being a spring-loaded swivel arm which locks in the crash position.